Lawmakers spend 1K/month on taxpayer-funded cars

The economy is still limping along, but some members of Congress are nevertheless riding in style: At least 10 House members are spending more than $1,000 a month in taxpayer money to lease cars.

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver appears to be the biggest spender.

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In the last quarter of 2009, the Missouri Democrat doled out $2,900 a month to lease a WiFi-equipped, handicap-accessible mobile office that runs on used cooking oil.

“Rather than paying for an additional office, the congressman has a mobile office, with all the capabilities to do casework across the district,” Cleaver spokesman Danny Rotert wrote in an e-mail. “We can go where our constituents are and accommodate those in wheelchairs with the mobile office’s lift.”

But at least nine other members are paying more than $1,000 a month for more basic rides.

Some lawmakers blame their high lease costs on a policy, enacted in a 2007 energy bill, requiring that the vehicles they choose be fuel efficient. Others say their two-year terms in office prevent them from taking advantage of lower-cost, longer-term leases.

A spokesman for House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas), who is paying $1,628 to lease a GMC Yukon, cited those reasons — and others.

“The leasing costs for the district vehicle are higher than in previous years due to the shortened payment period of 21 months, higher leasing fees that were the result of the financial crisis confronting American automakers at the time and new House environmental rules that required vehicles to conform to stricter emissions standards,” Reyes spokesman Vincent Perez said.

A spokeswoman for Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D-Mich.), who spends $1,230 per month on a 2009 Chevrolet Tahoe, said Kilpatrick does it for her district.

“The vehicle is manufactured by a company headquartered in the 13th Congressional District and was made by the hardworking men and women of the United Auto Workers,” spokeswoman Tracy Walker wrote in an e-mail. “The vehicle also meets the tougher environmental standards mandated by Congress.”

Pedro Pierluisi, the Democrat who represents Puerto Rico, spends $1,400 each month on his hybrid GMC Yukon, but a spokeswoman said that figure includes insurance, repair and maintenance costs.

Rep. Harry Teague (D-N.M.) — one of the richest members of Congress, with a net worth of more than $36 million — spends $1,279 in taxpayer money on his vehicle, a 2009 Chevy Malibu that helps him traverse his expansive southern New Mexico district. His cost includes additional mileage to facilitate travel in the sixth-largest congressional district in the country, his office said.